Mata Sahib Kaur Ji

Mata Sahib Kaur, also known as Mata Sahib Devan, is called the Mother of the Khalsa. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says she was the daughter of Bhai Har Bhagvan, also called Rama, a Bassi Khatri, and his wife Jas Devi, a devout Sikh couple of Rohtas in Jhelum district, now in Pakistan. Her parents had dedicated her to the Guru's service from the start.

Key moments

• 1700: her parents brought her to Anandpur at Baisakhi and offered her in marriage to Guru Gobind Singh. The Encyclopaedia says he first refused, as he already had two wives and four sons, but agreed when her father insisted that she had been brought up as his prospective spouse, making it explicit that the relationship would not be a physical one. The wedding took place on 15 April 1700, and the Guru proclaimed her the mother of the Khalsa. Since then, at initiation, the novices declare themselves the sons and daughters of Guru Gobind Singh and Mata Sahib Devan.
• 5 to 6 December 1705: after Anandpur was evacuated and the family scattered at the Sarsa, Bhai Mani Singh escorted her and Mata Sundari to Delhi. They rejoined the Guru at Talwandi Sabo in 1706 and were sent back to Delhi.
• 1708: she went with the Guru to Nanded but, shortly before his death in early October, was persuaded to return to Delhi and stay with Mata Sundari. She brought five weapons said to have belonged to Guru Hargobind, now kept at Gurdwara Rakabganj in New Delhi.
• From Delhi, together with Mata Sundari, she oversaw the affairs of the community, as hukamnamas issued to the sangats in her name show. The ones that survive are dated between 1726 and 1734.

The exact date of her death is not known. The Encyclopaedia reasons that she died between 1734 and 1747, before Mata Sundari, and her memorial stands near Mata Sundari's at Gurdwara Bala Sahib in New Delhi. Wikipedia gives her birth as 1 November 1681 and her death as 1747, but the Encyclopaedia does not.

A point on which accounts differ: the part she played in the first amrit. Wikipedia reports that Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha's Mahan Kosh places her at the creation of the Khalsa, adding sugar wafers to the amrit, while the Twarikh Guru Khalsa rejects this, saying that Mata Jito did so and that Mata Sahib Devan was not yet married to the Guru.

Remembered for: being named mother of the Khalsa, and for a woman's role in guiding the Panth from Delhi after the Guru's departure.